Thirty years ago, to the attention of practically no-one, former heavyweight king George Foreman began training for a comeback that was mostly, if not exclusively inspired by a need for money. “Big George,” aged 37 and having been largely forgotten by the sports world, had not boxed, or even clenched his fist in anger (as he would say himself later) for a decade.

It was a dangerous decision to attempt a ring return, and if George had listened to the “experts,” he would not have donned the gloves again and tried, quite ludicrously the critics would say, to lure reigning heavyweight champ Mike Tyson into defending against him. We all saw this past Saturday how perilous it can be for a once great fighter to try and do it again when at an advanced age. And even if Foreman was far, far younger in his first comeback fight than Bernard Hopkins was in his (hopefully) final one, the age of 37 was seen as too advanced to be returning to action after ten years out – certainly in 1987 it was.

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